London Olympic officials hailed the design of their 496 million pounds 2012 Stadium as "cleverer solution" following its unveiling on Wednesday.

 

The stadium, resembling a sunken bowl built into the ground on completion, has a total of 80,000 seats with 55,000 demountable.

 

The project will begin ahead of schedule in April next year and the stadium in Stratford, east London will be turned into a 25,000-seater community venue after the Olympics.

 

"No one can say we've compromised on design, on sustainability or on the legacy potential," said Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell MP.

 

"This is a very important Olympic milestone and this stadium is focused very much on legacy and sustainability."

 

The stadium will stand at the heart of the Olympic Park and building work on the facility will have to be finished at least six months ahead of the opening ceremony in July 2012 to allow for test event.

 

Twenty out of 33 buildings on the site have been demolished so far and 600,000 tonnes of soil taken away in preparing the ground for building.

 

Chief architect Rod Sheard believed the stadium would make a big impact, but not in the same way that previous Olympic stadia had.

 

"This is not a stadium that's going to be screaming from the rooftops that it's bigger and more spectacular," he said. "This is just a cleverer building. This is a cleverer solution."

 

He added that the ability to convert the stadium to a 25,000 one once the Olympics and Paralympics had finished was highly innovative and showed great forward thinking.

 

The ODA will be hoping for a positive response to the design of the Olympic Stadium, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the athletics events, following the criticism that the official 2012 logo received in June.

 

The cost of its development, however, has rocketed in price from the estimated 280 million quoted in 2004.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2007)